Three Uses of Tantric Sexuality

There are three primary spiritual uses of tantric sexuality (maithuna).

1. The awakening and amplification of kundalini energy, with the focus on directing this energy to pierce and conjoin the various subtle plexuses along the body’s central core. This is the internal aspect of sexual maithuna. Frequently there is both vigorous and more meditative
lovemaking involved, using specific body positions and couplings with the lovers’ placement of their sensory awareness, to help open the nerves, endocrine glands, and subtle channels of each part of the body in turn. (There are five common tantric positions and many variations, many of which are quite different than the thirty or so positions in the kama sutra), which are not specifically tantric at all…

2. Balancing and healing of the lovers’ physical and subtle bodies to heal physical and emotional health issues in this lifetime. This is of particular importance in Taoist alchemical traditions. It also exists in the secret traditions of ayurveda. However, many people today
market sexual therapy as tantra. It’s not… this variation appears very seldom in traditional tantra, but has become, along with the extension of orgasm, the central focus of “modern” or “new age” tantra.

3. The merging of the most subtle aspects (the “secret chakras” and vajra nadi) of the two lovers in the various secret versions of the techniques called vajroli and sahajoli, the union of the lovers’ consciousness and adoration in the central channel, and the movement of bindu through the lunar channel while in sublime states of bliss. This innermost aspect is included in “higher” tantra, although the external positions are indistinguishable from those in #1 and #2 above… The union described in #3 is really only an option for lovers whose kundalini is already awake, and who have control over their samadhi (one-pointed absorption) in meditation. It can, however, occasionally happen spontaneously during lovemaking between people who have not yet reached these levels of control and awareness…